On this day – February 24, 1920 – The National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) Is Founded

It was 99 years ago today that Adolf Hitler delivered the Nazi Party’s 25 Point Platform to around 2,000 people in Munich’s famous beerhall, the Hofbräuhaus. This event is often regarded as the founding of the Nazi Party.

The world famous Hofbräuhaus was founded in 1589 by Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria

The Nazi Party’s roots actually go back to March 7, 1918 when political factions with exotic names were popping up all over Germany at the end of WWI. One of these was called the “Free Labor Committee for a Good Peace,” which was founded by a Munich locksmith named Anton Drexler. The little party consisted of some forty railwaymen and different friends of Drexler who were all banded together in a spirit of fierce nationalism, anti-Semitism, and support for the war effort.

Following the German defeat in WWI, however, the “Free Labor Committee for a Good Peace” reinvented itself and became the “German Worker’s Party (DAP)”. It was on September 12, 1919, that Hitler stumbled upon Drexler’s party after his military superiors had sent him to investigate it to draw up a report on its activities.

Beerhalls in Munich were the acceptable place for political parties to meet in those days, mostly due to their sheer size. Some enormous establishments, like the Hofbräuhaus, could seat 2,000 or more people and they often had platforms for orchestras, which could be instantly transformed into podiums for politicians.

He would eventually join the party and become its 55th party member on January 1, 1920.

Hitler quickly helped Drexler to realize that the party had to have a clear program (which it certainly didn’t have at the time) in order for it to have an effective voice. Together, the two men would sit down and write the 25 Points of their party’s program, which was completed on February 6. 1920.

Among preaching nationalism in its highest form, the 25 Points focused on calling on Germany to reject the Treaty of Versailles, that Germany take back its territories that had been lost after WWI, and that only those who have German blood can become citizens (which would exclude Jews).

Anton Drexler (1884-1942)

A little over two weeks later, 99 years ago today, Hitler gave the first reading of the 25 Points to a Hofbräuhaus that was filled to capacity; and even included a large number of communists spoiling for a fight among the around 2,000 people in attendance.

Fron this point onward the party would be referred to as the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (the Nazi Party) or (NSDAP), whose acronym would become a byword for tyranny of the greatest form, synonymous with the perishing of millions of innocent lives, and a movement responsible for one of the largest catastrophes – of unprecedented proportions – in world history.